The CB2 was a sweet little venue below a restaurant. Apparently it’s usually hot and sweaty but the big chill meant the sauna conditions were put on hold. On coming down to an empty club my wife Mary and I found all the seats had reserved notices on them apart from the front row and the back row. Presumably everyone had been in and bagged places early- so nothing daunted we went for the front row. The description of the venue as ‘intimate’ is accurate to the point that the front row have to rest their feet on stage (virtually on the monitor speaker in my case)! So, best seats in the house having been bagged we sat back and enjoyed the evening.

Pete played two very full sets with an interval in between.

I fear I will have forgotten some songs (and these are almost certainly in the wrong order – unless chance is being particularly mysterious and effective ) but the ones I can recall include:

Touch Has A Memory Canoe The Last Hill That Shows You All the Valley An Empty Table Cottonmouth Have You Got a Biro History and Geography I See The Joker – as gripping as ever! Senior Citizens The Dancing Master - wonderful

New songs included the one on the video on the main site ie Is It Just The Way You Are? Also Cottonmouth and the slightly scary Here We Stay with it’s marching rhythm

Pete closed the night with a wonderful version of 30 Year Man.

I am pretty sure this list doesn’t cover everything he played –but I didn’t keep notes – sorry – maybe someone else can help. The old warhorses (Beautiful Stranger / Girl on the Train) were kept in their stables and, great as they are, one couldn’t complain about that; the song choice for the night was great. My over-riding memory of the night was of the cracking version of The Last Hill. Pete locked it into a forward driving rhythm that just carried it away. Really Powerful!

All in all it was an excellent and really enjoyable night. Support was from Bernard Hoskin a very friendly guy who runs the club (he told us he books himself as support for all his favourite musicians ). He said he had discovered a new business model; he was giving away his own cd as you went in And introductions came from an ebullient and friendly Sue Marchant of Radio Cambridge – she was a very positive MC for the night.

Nice also to see Andy Love there – Hi Andy (does he come on here ?). He even showed me a glimpse of the (ultimately unused) bell in his pocket – I like a man who is prepared

I took 6 photo’s of Pete during the in-between-song-parts (trying to catch moments where he looked like he was playing) and although 3 of them would have to be judged as complete failures by even the kindest member of the camera club (it’s okay I don’t belong) the other 3 are just about okay and can be viewed here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seank/sets/72157629282820869/show/ They are in black and white so I’m afraid you can’t see the startling juxtaposition of Pete’s blood-red shirt against the club’s blood-red back wall

Anyway Big Thanks to Pete and all at the club – and here’s looking forward to Walthamstow!

Yes, a brilliant venue - Pete said that if it had been there when he was in Cambridge he'd have spent all his time there. The seating reservations also caught us unawares, but even coming down from the restaurant at the advertised opening time of 7.45 allowed us to find seats on the fifth row. I'll add Thief In The Night, Carnations On The Roof, Prayers Against The Hitman ("an all-purpose protest song") and Laughing Boy to the setlist above. Mention was made of Clive's singing on the last mentioned, better than he usually claims but "rhythm-dodgy" and not extending to proficiency in two-part harmony. I'm sure nobody noticed the slight lyrical fluff at the beginning of An Empty Table. The absence of wings in which to hide between end of show and encore didn't prevent cries of "More!", and Thirty Year Man was a grand finale.

Sean has recalled most of the setlist fom last night, the only ones which I can add are Thief in the Night (excellent), Prayers against the Hitman, and Laughing Boy. I particularly liked the closing version of Thirty Year Man. I can't recall the titles of a couple of unrecorded tracks. It was a a good gig, Pete performed in his usual laid back style on both guitar and keyboards with some banter between songs. I thought there might have been an airing of Beautiful Stanger as we were within a stones throw of the location of the 'Mid Summer fairground', but it was not to be. It was an excellent and very compact venue, all credit to Bernard Hoskin for running the show and also his supporting performance. Thanks for the cd !

It was good to see Pete performing in his home town, he doesn't often venture back to the icy flatlands of East Anglia. I went with my brother who had travelled up from Cardiff, on one of the coldest nights of the year. The car was reading -10 degrees C on the way home to Bury St Edmunds !

Many a big thank from me to Bernard first of all and to everyone who made it through the eastern ice, quite a few from quite a way away as you'll have inferred. Here (relax, Jan!) is the full set list - (1) The Way You Are With Me (g) (still doesn't feel finalised as a title, but we'll see) Thief in the Night (g) Touch has a memory (p) Canoe (p) The Last Hill (g) Empty Table (p) History & Geography (p) Cottonmouth (p) I Know The Way (g) (see item 1) Laughing boy (g) (2) Have you got a Biro? (g) Prayers against the Hitman (g) I see the Joker (p) Dancing Master (p) Care-charmer sleep (g) Carnations on the roof (g) Senior citizens (p) Here we stay (g) Thirty Year Man (p) (pseudo-encore)

I was there too, lurking in a corner at the back, trying to keep warm (minus 10 outside). But Pete was on splendid form back in his home town. I've had 'Care-charmer Sleep' lodged in his head all weekend, which is no bad thing. And I like 'Here We Stay' more every time I hear it - as Pete said, a song about survivors that seems more pertinent with every passing day.

I was there with an old Cambridge friend who'd once owned a couple of Pete's albums but hadn't heard him for many years. She emerged a (re)convert, I think!